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Nelson Mandela 'Concert'

It's Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday soon and deservedly the British put on a gig tonight to celebrate the life of the former South African present and symbol for world peace and justice. Looking understandbly frail given the 18 years hard labour he served in a lime quarry whilst doing bird at Robben Island prison from 1972 for fighting the oppressive apartheid that strangled South Africa, it was with intrigue to me when the gig was announced as to who would be playing.

The usual 'do-good' element of Bono and Annie fucking Lennox were banded about by the media as well as a host of other top bands that could have led to something that would have dragged me away from Hollyoaks for the night and down to Hyde Park.

So for all Nelson's effort in fighting for democracy, overcoming the most formidable of all African regimes and almost dying for his just cause to going on to becoming an icon for global justice; what does he get for his birthday gig? Geri Halliwell, Simple 'we haven't had a hit since the 1980s' Minds, a Queen tribute band, a lung-fucked heroin hag, Johnny 'if it'll raise my profile i'll do it' Borrell' and yes, Annie 'fucking' Lennox. Poor old Nelson, he surely deserved better. When Halliwell turned up, a part of him must have wished he was back in Robben Island humping those limerocks about rather than having to suffer Old Spice. In fact he'd probably rather be indoors watching Max Cunningham's untimely demise on Hollyoaks with me over a glass of Kia Ora cordial and some Stagg Chilli before settling in for the soaps. Some may argue that all of the best acts are playing Glastonbury this weekend, robbing Nelson of a decent line-up. I doubt that very much. Looking at this year's 'forward thinking' line-up it's no surprise they couldn't shift the tickets for that either.

Kein Cashback. Danke

Customer Service - The German Way

When I watch football involving the German national side, the pundits always point to their efficiency and robotic-like workmanship that enables them to get the job done systematically. That is actually bullshit, because the German side isn't efficient at all, more a mix between skill and luck. Anyway, that's not the point. You've probably got to this point in my post and wondered who this chap in the picture is? Well, for your information, this is Roger; a proper example of German efficiency. Roger works at the Future Store near Dusseldorf as a customer services assistant and moves up and down aisles assisting shoppers with their needs. This is what I'm talking about. Imagine the advantages of having these Rogers replacing everybody that holds a customer services position in a retail outlet? Sure, there'd be mass unemployment the already stretched government couldn't cope with, but for people like me who escaped the shackles of retail years ago, this could be brilliant.

Whereas British shop assistants are about as easy to find as a Morrissey sex scandal, Roger can meet your shopping needs with ease and won't be gathered round three other members of staff talking inane bullshit whilst they know you are trying to get their attention. Give him an instruction or ask him if something is in stock, he can tell you straight off the bat, unlike those 'here to help' over here who tell you "If it ain't on the shelf mate, we ain't got it," or go and get the manager when you ask something they would consider 'outside of the box', like "how many songs does this iPod hold?" I know this happens because I saw several colleagues do this at a number of retail outlets I worked at do it and you know you've been treated the same, especially in London, where most shop workers really couldn't give an iota of a fuck. It's so bad in London, it's laughable.

As well as Roger parading up and down the aisle like a blue-arsed fly, the Germans have proven that you don't need cashiers either. "Do you collect Nectar/Clubcard points, vouchers for schools?" Did I ask? No. Let me pay. Let me leave. I know we have those self-serve tills in supermarkets, but they are about as handy square tyres.. "Please place item in baggage area, sorry, wait for approval, invalid item in bagging area," you know the story. In Germany you can download software that turns your phone into a personal shopping accessory that scans each item via the camera on your phone, which you simply scan again on a 'pay-station' on exiting the store. Happy days. However, I doubt the British would ever be able to implement such a system as people would just rob the shit out of the stores... still you can only dream.

Kaiser Chiefs Interview with Peanut

KAISER CHIEFS

by Craig Ablitt

We’re coming towards the end of 2007. How’s it been for you?
Good thanks. It went quickly and successfully and I don’t think we could have hoped for better.

You have a massive UK tour that’s going to round things off. What can people expect from these big arena dates?
It’s kind of like us signing off for the year so we want to do it in style. We’ve got a new stage set designed and we’re going to try and play some new songs. It’s important to do that because when you get to the level that we’re at; playing to 20 000 in a room reminds people of who you are and how fresh you can still be.

You cancelled the U.S tour. Didn’t you want to capitalize on the success you’ve had out there?
Kind of. We just had so much stuff booked that was impossible to stick to and something had to give. If we had gaps in the calendar it would have happened. It’s unfortunate because we want to capitalize on everywhere we go, it’s never nice to miss gigs after they’ve been announced.

Will it be weird playing these huge halls?
It’ll be different definitely. When we go onstage at the MEN Arena it’s gonna be manic and we’re not sure what’ll happen, but it’ll be good. Sometimes when you go abroad it can be more exciting because you don’t know what to expect. Fortunately for us, the majority of the time it’s great and people get properly excited. We went to Mexico for the first time and people were waiting outside for us at the gig and there was even bootleg merchandise of ours outside and when I went to go and have a look I just got surrounded by all these kids – I just couldn’t move! It’s nice to be coming home to the UK though.

How does it feel being in the public spotlight do much?
It’s become normal. It’s great when it starts to happen and when people from Leeds say how proud there are of us and good for Leeds and all that, which is nice to hear from people of your own town. Generally it comes with the territory and you can’t be baffled by it. You just get on with it

Tell us about this new material. Why are you so eager to play it already?
You can’t make yourself go away. We could go away for two years and come back, but we don’t want to fall into that trap and system. We are on to the third lot of writing we have done now and might not use it for an album. We could do a small release. We like doing the more interesting and fun things you can do when you’re in a big band. Next year should be a year of us having fun. Little creative things.

Will the new material be of the same melodic, upbeat nature we have enjoyed so far?
I think that’s something we’ll always do because we can’t get away from that you know? That’s how we write songs – doing them so they get in people’s heads after one listen. That’s something we shouldn’t try and get away from. There’s pop records, but also there is this indie sort of rock thing that doesn’t go hand in hand with melody and tunefulness, but we have a good balance between the two. It’ll never leave us and we are going to keep having fun with the music we do. Let’s see where it takes us rather than force it into a place where it doesn’t want to go.

Would you ever go down this Radiohead route of giving it away?
Obviously Radiohead are a successful band with millions of fans so they can afford to do that and know a lot of people will buy the record this way anyway. I went online and bought the box set thing for forty quid where you get the download for free, which is good. I’d love to know what the average price people had paid for it – I’d love Radiohead to do that. I think it’s a good thing and I think that sensible people on the whole will pay the right amount they normally pay for a CD. You will get some people who will only pay 50p for it or something, but on the whole I reckon there’ll be a good average price paid for it. It’s a clever experiment and there’ll be repercussions that haven’t happened yet, certainly.

How has this new material come about then? Was it written on the road?
We don’t write on the road too much. Nick is main songwriter and in his hotel he has a guitar and he’ll stockpile ideas. When we come to write as a band we need to be back in our rehearsal room in Leeds, which is why we were keen in October to do that. In there we turn Nick’s ideas into proper songs. On the road it’s difficult. You get soundchecks and stuff, but these days there is like 40 people around you, so it’s not like a small soundcheck.

So was the new album the ‘difficult second album’ or was it easy in the end?
We were a band before Kaiser Chiefs and made an album that wasn’t released. We viewed Employment as our difficult second album where we really had to pull out the stops and not everyone knew that, but we did. By now, this is really our third album. Employment was the make or break album. It was like the second bite of the apple and you don’t normally get a second chance in this industry. That’s why Employment was great and sold millions of copies, but on this one we’d found our style and found our purpose. We put pressure on ourselves and didn’t get any from elsewhere and I think that’s the best sort of pressure to have.

What was up with the Parva stuff then?
We didn’t have an identity. They say you learn from your mistakes before. When we cut it with Kaiser Chiefs, we’d made our mistakes already. It was a mish mash of styles and didn’t connect. Nick s songwriting got better and better as time went on and we’re stricter too these days too and will ditch tracks we’re not too precious over.

You must have seen a lot of bands disappear after one record in your time?
That is exactly it. Now you have things like MySpace and that – people only need one really good song and if it is good enough it will get round and what can happen is that they get signed too early. A single can come out be a hit etc, then it’s followed by an album, sells 5000 copies, they get dropped and are never heard of again and that’s their career over. You think about bands like U2 – they didn’t get successful until their third album on Island records. Nobody seems to put the time and the effort into developing bands. People are starting to now, because they realize that they have destroyed some of these bands and put them out before they were ready, but now there are labels out there trying to develop bands.

Speaking of U2, did you learn any tips off them when you supported them in 2005?
Yeah, you still need the same confidence and as a small show, you just learn how to project your songs in a stadium with the sound you have and we did. We saw The Edge at some awards ceremony recently and he said: “You guys were really great on tour,” and Bono said to us earlier in the night: “You either get that stadium buzz or you don’t. You either rise to it and you’re hungry for it or it won’t happen.” We gave it our all and felt it worked and did what we needed to. Now with our own big tour we feel totally ready for it.

People say arena gigs are soulless and too big. How will you combat that?
I think from day one we have been a more energetic and engaging band than a lot of others out there. We’ve been to big gigs where the size of the venue has detracted from the quality of the band. We want people to concentrate on the band and not the screen. We have bits and pieces of stage props, but we still get people involved at our level. It’s not a DVD playback where you watch the screen all night.

Is it ever difficult touring with the same people for months on end?
Yeah, we have little arguments and little fall outs, but the good days far outweigh the good days in this band. We have a great crew and a great family and there’s no nob heads. We’re looking forward about all getting out and doing it together – a family away from home and we always have a good tour.

How do you keep entertained with all the travelling?
By watching UK comedies I reckon. Partridge, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers; that sort of stuff.

Tell us about your support bands for the tour?
We Are Scientists came with us on the Employment tour and are good lads to be around. They have this British sort of humor and they are also a great band. We have Pigeon Detective and The Cribs in various cities. I don’t think anyone needs telling why they are great bands.

What did you make about Ryan Jarman’s anti-indie scene comments?
We are really good friends with The Cribs and have always championed them. They’ve been around longer than us and I think they are doing good and I think they are doing alright. I like them because they have very solid values and literally say what they mean with things they feel strongly about. If something’s shit and they think it’s shit they’ll say ‘that’s shit!’ They’ll say that in the press on TV and whatever and I really admire that sort of commitment. I know Ryan is a top guy and he’d never try and offend anyone, but if he doesn’t like something he’ll let you know and we love that in him.

What’s your favorite song to play live?
To play live? Oh My God, which we play at the end of the set was one of the first songs we wrote and its still one of the weirdest ones we’ve done in terms of arrangements and reminds me of Pink Floyd-esque sounds and it’s a monster song.

The View Interview with Kieren Webster

THE VIEW

by Craig Ablitt

I went back to Ireland for New Year about three or four years ago and got a ticket to see The Undertones play a homecoming gig in Derry. Supporting them was a nervous band of yoofs from Dundee armed with a barrage of ferocity in their sound that turned out to be The View. I wasn't the least bit surprised when they exploded with 'Wasted Little DJs' to be honest....

From being a covers band playing the back room in the renowned Doghouse in their native Dundee, The View have become one of the most talked about and loved bands of 2006. As with any band they asked each other that oh so eternal question: How to get a record deal? Bombard labels with demos? Get yourselves up on Myspace? Play a load of gigs? Not The View.

Talking from the bands tour bus bassist Kieren Webster sounds extremely sprightly and explains how one of Britain’s brightest talents went from zeroes to heroes the direct way. “You want to know how we got signed?” he asks in extremely strong Scottish accent, “We waited outside a venue in Dundee for Pete Doherty to turn up with Babyshambles and when he did we gave him a copy of our demo. He took us on their tour bus, liked what he heard and gave us a support slot that night,” he laughs. “The demo then got passed on to 1965 Records and we got signed, we also got to do a full UK tour with Babyshambles too,” he says as matter of fact.

Unbelievable considering that just over a year ago The View were just another hopeful guitar band playing the usual local circuit. Their rise to fame has come so quickly that even Webster admits the band has found the transition all rather odd. “We’ve been talking about how different things have become quite a lot recently,” he explains. “At the moment, adjusting to success quickly is difficult yet very exciting. We’re just trying right now to get a hold of everything but we’ve just got to learn how to do it. I guess the reason we are working our arses off right now is to be at the position we are getting to right now,” he points out.

An extremely fine position it is too. Debut single’ Wasted Little DJs’ pricked the ears of the whole UK indie scene and earned the band an endless amount of publicity and in particular attracted the attention of personal heroes Primal Scream who soon snapped the boys up to support them on two UK tours. “Playing with Primal Scream was just mega for us,” Webster pipes up excitedly. “In fact the highpoint will probably come when we support them again later this year on their bigger UK tour, they are real heroes of ours,” still sounding like a besotted schoolboy.

The band are also on course to score a consecutive hit with next single ‘Superstar Tradesman’, “probably the song I am most proud of,” Webster adds, but the question on everybody’s lips is when will there be an album? “The album will be out in January,” he assures. “Owen Morris (former Oasis cohort) will be producing it because he really got into us when he came to the 1965 Records launch party,” he says. “The record is going to sound as live as possible which people might not get hold of because of that sort of rawness, but we want to make a record that represents our live sets and be an album you can play in your bedroom and go mental too.”

As former school friends prepare to go to university or start working a nine to five, we ask what the band have planned for their long term future, something that the they have obviously not given thought to during their whirlwind rise to fame. “A long term plan?” he laughs out loud. “We don’t have one mate! Our long term plans reach about as far as next week. We are taking nothing for granted, we take each week as it comes although I’m sure there are record company people who have some long term plans for us.”

The Charlatans Interview with Tim Burgess

THE CHARLATANS

by Craig Ablitt

When I suggested that The Charlatans deserved a cover story to celebrate the release of their singles album Forever it was met in the office with a couple of furrowed brows and comments of "maybe ten years ago." I got my way in the end. The Charlatans embody everything that is great about British guitar bands and Tim Burgess for me is one of the best five frontmen of all time. My first memory of hearing them was in Barracuda's up the High Street when I was too young to get into clubs, but we made it in thanks to fake I.D and ridiculous bum fluff. 'The Only One I Know' still sounds fucking great when I go out to this day. Anyway.........

When The Charlatans scored their first top ten hit with ‘The Only One I Know’ in 1990, shell suits were in fashion, Manchester was the musical centre of the universe and England had a football team to be proud of. How times have changed! However, The Charlatans are very much still with us (although their haircuts have improved since then) and after sixteen years of success have decided to release a singles compilation entitled Forever to celebrate the fact.

Lead singer Tim Burgess is in reflective mood and is upbeat about the release from the moment he picks up the telephone. “I was listening to the album last night and I think I’ve surprised myself on how amazing it sounded,” he states confidently. “I had the headphones on and I was listening to ‘Indian Rope’, thinking how fresh it still sounds to this day. We’ve had twenty-three hit singles and even had the luxury of kicking five of them off the final tracklisting. I guess it’s nice to have the choice,” he laughs.

As soon as any band releases a greatest hits or singles compilation, the usual rumour mill starts as to whether this is the end, especially with the band finishing off their recording commitments with Universal. “People don’t need to start worrying,” Burgess assures. “I think the good thing about releasing something like this is that it puts a mark on the past and allows you to continue into the future. We’ve got at least another ten or fifteen years in us yet and just want to keep giving people the music because we still want to make our perfect record,” he quips.

So after almost twenty years of continual success, where do the band go to try and find fresh inspiration to better the last record? “We don’t really think about how we are going to better the last album, we record depending on the current situation and climate around us,” Burgess explains. “On the last record I was taking way too many drugs and drinking quite heavily and I think that really came through because it was a very sombre and paranoid record. The next record will be interesting, free from the shackles of drug abuse,” he promises.

As with many bands coming out of the Greater Manchester scene in the late 1980’s, the culture of acid house and ecstasy was rife in the music that was being made at that time. According to Burgess the usage of drugs has been of some benefit musically to The Charlatans over the years. “I think drugs have helped music in some ways, you know, smoking grass, using LSD or E, I think they have provided us with some of our defining moments,” he says candidly.

Talking of defining moments, The Charlatans have had many along the way as well as some tragedy, notably losing keyboardist Rob Collins in a car accident in 1996 before releasing the hugely successful number one album Tellin’ Stories. “I think it goes without saying, that was one of the lowest points of my life,” he sighs. “Without trying to get caught up in the drama of that, we considered the band’s future, of course we did. Without wanting to trivialize the whole thing, it’s like being a kid and falling off your bike and if you don’t get back on you never will.” A real turning point for the band came when Oasis invited them to take part in their Knebworth mega-gigs, the same week of Collins’ funeral. “I think if we didn’t get in front of those 200,000 people at Knebworth that weekend, just one week after Rob’s funeral we would have never of started up again I reckon.”

Luckily for us all they did go on and the period that followed is The Charlatans most prolific according to Burgess. “’One To Another’ went in at number three, Tellin’ Stories crashed in at number one, ‘North Country Boy’ was a big hit, we really became a force again,” he beams. “I also think the Wonderland album was a pretty defining Charlatans moment. We made that in a cocaine frenzy in the jungle of Los Angeles, those were great times and I’m looking forward to a lot more.”

Starting this month, the band will take the singles album out on the road, although for Burgess some of the songs became tedious for the band to perform. “We got really tired of playing ‘The Only One I Know’ and stopped doing that for a while. We sounded like a band from the suburbs doing a bad cover version,” he laughs. “There were a few that got like that, but I think when you stop playing a song live, it gives it time to breathe and reinvigorate itself.”

With the whole interview turning into an out and out retrospective of The Charlatans career, we end by asking Burgess if he had any regrets along the way. “Right now as I speak to you I can’t think of any, which must be a good thing. There may be a few, but if they were worth mentioning I would have,” he chortles. “All In all, I am quite proud of The Charlatans story really. There’s been a few casualties, there’s been a few hits and the odd miss, but I think they just call that life really.”

Craig Interviews Frank Black

FRANK BLACK

by Craig Ablitt

My editor asked me one day: "Jack Daniels have been on the phone and want us to do a promotion with them and interview some of the bands they have playing at some gigs they are putting on." "OK, who have they got?" I asked. "Elbow and some dude called Frank Black." "Frank fucking Black?" I responded. "Arrange that NOW!" She did and one cold September night I was given his mobile number and went outside the office to a little dark street in South London to exchange words with a man whose band was the soundtrack to a million nights out consisting of cheap vodka, chain smoking and Cresta Cars zooming down Rochdale Road until reaching Whitworth Street.

What projects are you keeping yourself busy with at the moment?
Well, right now I'm trying to convince the other Pixies to make a record. I got a few things about at the moment though. I'm recording another solo record right now. I think I'm going to call it 'The Holiday Inn Season Package' because all of the tracks have been demoed at various hotels on my travels on a video camera. It might turn out to be a dance record with more pop-type sounds like the Eurythmics. (Pauses for thought). Yeah, a chick on synths. That would be cool with some awesome bass (pauses to write something down). I do like making my own records becasue you don't have to figure them out with other people and it's never awkward. Oh yeah, my wife has an album coming out too at some point. It's difficult for her though because of the children, the breast feeding, plus they got to learn math and stuff.

The last recording you had out was Honeycomb and was recorded in Tennessee where these JD Set gigs are happening. Are you fond of that part of the world?

I don't know the place at all, just the recording studios, people's homes and that's about it. I know the pace is choked full of musical legends of course. In the Pixies we would hang out in Memphis and our bus driver had a CV installed and I would talk to all the truckers in the area - real friendly people who all really dug country music. When you look at the music that's come out of Tennessee, you get to the roots of some of the all-time great American music like folk, gospel, blues, r&b, motown, soul, bluesgrass.... It's cool.

200 people are being flown from the UK for this particular show. What can they expect from the set?

200 huh? Wow! I've not decided yet. There'll be some Pixies material to look forward to, some new recordings and some old solo things. It'll be different that's for sure.

You've opened up for some interesting names in the past few months, namely Tom Petty and U2. Who was your favourite to play with?

Tom Petty is a pretty nice guy and is very generous financially to his opening acts! That's not always the case when you open up for people though, but I enjoyed the shows I played with him. Those U2 boys were nice. They let you ride in their airplane that has a cappacino station, a margharita station and if you ask their bartender nicely he'll put an umbrella in your drink - very cool.

You have a huge solo tour coming up in the US, are there any plans to bring some of the shows to the UK?

I'll always put on a tour with the UK in mind. You folks have been very nice to me in the past.

How does life on the road as a solo artist compare to being on the road with The Pixies?
The Pixies are my calling card I guess. I've become accustomed to playing larger audiences with them. There's a lot more potential for tension and arguements in that band both on and off the stage. People make a lot out of that though. It happens in every band. There's no story or angle on the Pixies. Sure, we fight all the time, but I bet there are other bands who fight more.

The band have been back together now for three years touring. What did you want to achieve with the reformation?
To make amends I suppose for the past. Also to make some money and be loved by fans old and new. It's nice to be in the limelight and be adored.

Are old grievances within the band now laid to rest?

I guess. We probably communicate more than harbour grudges like in the past. I guess we air our grudges more now, especially between Kim and I. Joey's weird though. Nobody knows Joey, he's a riddle inside a riddle.

Was there ever a definitive reason as to why the band split?

No. We never said anything to anyone. I don't even remember sending a letter to our manager to say we'd quit. It just happened.

The Pixies documentary LoudQuiteloud is due for release. What are your thoughts on the film?
I enjoyed process of it and watching the original cut, but I get the impression they wanted to make a story out of it about us not getting on and creating an atmosphere. I found that strange. I was hoping for a film that nobody would get, something more wacky.

You mentioned trying to get the other Pixies to record new material. What are the chances?

About fifty fifty right now I guess.

You are obviously keen, do you have any songs ready that you have in mind for the Pixies?
Ideas always appear in studios and stuff, but I'm not concerned with ideas. I'll just sign on the line to record material and go and do it. Kim has The Breeders which keeps her busy right now and I am kinda busy on tour and with solo records, so logistically it makes it hard. To make it happen we'd need to clear the decks and be cultured enough to do that. Actually, when I said fifty fifty, right now it's more like seventy-five to twenty-five in my favour of material happening. The ball's in their court.

What would a Pixies album sound like right now do you think?

Oh, like a country album I think.

I'm embarrassed to ask, but a friend of mine wanted me to ask you a question..

Don't be shy.

OK. Give one word answers to describe each member of the Pixies.

OK, that's not such a bad question is it!? Kim Deal I'd say is charasmatic. Joey Santiago...(pauses for a long time). Unknown is my answer there. Dave Lovering I would call outgoing. He is like an actual pixie. Actually, Joey is one too. He might actually be one pretending to be a human.

What do you feel is left to achieve with your career?

I've always wanted to put out reggae albums.

And with the Pixies?

Oh lots of things. A soundtrack to a movie where we were also the actors would be something.